Monday, December 20, 2010

By now you've hopefully finished making your Christmas cards, and they're on their way to the lucky recipients! But if you've left it to the last minute, and need some inspiration, then look no further! :)

I made these cards last year, but have not yet shared them on my blog. Better share them now before Christmas is over and done with for another year! LOL!

Again I've used the Floral Background stamp, this time with pearlescent pink ink. The tree branches were stamped straight over the background in green ink. The hanging decoration was stamped on a separate piece of paper, cut out, and adhered to the card.

The detail in that hanging decoration stamp is so beautiful! And you've just gotta love that Santa image!

One more:

For this card I mixed things up a little and used stamps from a few different brands. The background is of course the DD Floral Background stamp, the tree image is from Crafty Individuals, and the word "Joy" is from Stampendous. I stamped the tree stamp onto cream coloured basic grey patterned paper, and then cut it out using a scalloped circle Nestabilities die. The letters in joy were stamped on the same paper, then individually cut out and adhered to the card front. Again, a bit of green grosgrain ribbon brightens up the card.

Not long now until Santa comes! I'm really looking forward to Christmas - and the kids are just about beside themselves with excitement!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Today I have some more Christmas Mail Art to share with you. It was hard getting a look I liked with the envelopes being so thin (the inks soaked through quickly, and they kept scrunching up when I was inking! Argh!), but they did look pretty cool once the addresses and postage stamps were on them!

Monday, December 13, 2010

2 months ago a very dear friend of mine had the most gorgeous little baby girl! Let's call her "Miss E".

When Miss E was about 4 weeks old I did a photo shoot of her and out of about 150 photos I was able to get just over 30 awesome shots, which I gave them on CD to print as well as on a DVD in a slideshow with music etc. It was lots of fun to do, and her parents loved it!

I was really happy with how the pics turned out, so I thought I'd share a few of my favourite pics here. :)

Isn't she precious?!

So Beautilful!

Baby feet are just so awesome!!

So dreamy!!

I LOVE babies - especially when I can hand them back to their mums! LOL!! I'm done having babies of my own, so it's lovely to spend time with these gorgeous little creatures - definitely good for the soul!

If you're interested in having me come and take some pics of your baby, pop me an email! ;)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Back in November 2009 my challenge at Inkurable Stampers was to create a Christmas themed Twinchie (a 2" square) AND use it in a project. You may have seen my example pieces last year over at Inkurable, but I haven't shared them here yet, so with Christmas fast approaching there is no better time than right now! (Otherwise I'd have to wait another year! LOL!).

So here are my Twinchies:

Cute huh?! ;)

Now for the close ups:

For my boy Twinchie I used a 2x2" piece of black cardstock as the base. I then attached some green lace "doily" paper (Basic Grey) to some red basic grey paper, and cut a square slightly smaller than 2x2". I inked the edges with black ink and then stuck it onto the black background square.

I stamped a Stampotique stamp onto white cardstock with black ink and cut him out. I coloured his jumper with a red marker and his face with "Antique Linen" Distress Ink.

I die cut his Santa hat out of Bazzill cardstock using a Quickcutz Santa die and my Cuttlebug machine.

I wrapped a red cord around the Twinchie and attached a pewter holly/bells brad.

For my girl Twinchie, I again started with a black background square. I cut a piece of red Basic Grey paper and stamped the Stampotique girl onto it. I then stamped the girl again onto plain white cardstock, and cut around her head, neck and body, then stuck her over the stamped image on the red paper. This was so I could have her in white without having to cut around her hair. Also gives her some dimension. I then colourd in her necktie with a red marker.

Again, the hat is from a Quickcuts Santa die. I drew a black line on the side and stuck some Kaisercraft rhinestones to the end for a hanging Christmas bauble.

I made 2 different Christmas cards using my Twinchies.

Here is the boy card:

My base card is black Bazzill cardstock. I die cut a bracket shape out of red Basic Grey paper and then embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I sanded the raised surfaces, and then inked over the top with black ink for a grungy look.

I mounted my Twinchie to the front of the card using double sided foam mounting tape, and then added Kaisercraft Rhinestones to the background for a bit of bling.

Here is the girl card:

Again I have used a black Bazzill base card. I made the wreath by die cutting some Basic Grey doily paper with a scalloped circle Nestabilities shape. I adhered the wreath to the card front using spray glue.

I attached my Twinchie to the middle of the card using double sided foam mounting tape and used red Kaisercraft pearls to decorate the wreath. I created a bow out of some lovely green ribbon, and attached it to the top of the wreath.

These cards went to new homes when I sent out my cards last year. ;)

All my cards have been sent out this year - about half of them were hand made. Do you make all your Christmas cards? Have you sent them all out yet? Let me know by leaving a comment! I love hearing from you all! :)

Saturday, December 11, 2010

LOL - I wish! I'd love to visit Paris one day - it's officially on my Bucket List. But for now, these projects using the "Tour Eiffel" Stamp set from the Paris Collection from Darkroom Door will be as close as I get:

Thursday, December 9, 2010

I made this Christmas decoration last year, and you may have seen it on the Darkroom Door blog, or possibly even at Inkurable. However I never shared it here so I figured now is a good time! (even if it is a year late! LOL!).

So here it is:

I saw the original idea from a Martha Stewart Project Sheet "Glitter Star Ornaments" that I picked up in Spotlight back in December 2009. I didn't know it at the time, but the examples in that instruction sheet were created by my friend Dawn Lewis before we knew each other! What a small world!

* Cut fourteen 2x2" squares from double sided basic grey cardstock, and stamp each of them with the DD background stamp using Teal Stazon.

* Curl each twinchie into a cone shape and secure with adhesive. I used double sided tape down one side of the Twinchie which worked well because there was no drying time. For my decoration, I used 14 twinchies, but it will depend on how tight you roll them. You may need more or less - but always make sure you have an even number.

* Glue the cones to a 6cm circle base so that their tips all meet in the middle. Make sure you alternate their placement as per the photo.

* Flatten a metal bottle cap with a rubber mallet, and attach it using foam mounting tape to the centre of the ornament. Fill the inside with silver Kindyglitz.

* Apply silver Kindyglitz to the edges of each cone. Allow to dry.

* Punch a small hole in the top of the ornament, and thread through some silver cord and tie in a loop, ready to hang. Hang your ornament in your house, and listen to your family and friends ooooh and ahhh!

Finished ornament size = 6 inches wide.

Of course, you can vary the size of your ornament depending on how big you cut your squares. :)

Give it a go, and be sure to let me know if you put pics on your blog so I can come and have a squizz!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

My challenge over at Inkurable Stampers this month is to create a card using only one layer of stamping.

I created a Christmas card as my example:

My stamped layer began with a piece of white Basic Grey patterned paper. I stamped the Darkroom Door Flourish Background stamp onto it using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, and then inked around the edges using the same colour and my TH Ink blending tool.

Next I stamped the flying Reindeer (from the Darkroom Door "Reindeer" stamp set) 3 times directly over the flourish background using Timber Brown Stazon. I added a red brad for Rudolph's nose.

I inked around the layer using Walnut Stain Distress ink, and then adhered my stamped layer to the Bazzill cardstock card base.

So there you have it! A quick and simple Christmas card design that can easily be replicated if you need to make lots of them in one sitting!

If you'd like to play along with this month's One Layer Wonder challenge (due midnight Jan 4th 2011)check out the details here. There are 3 prizes up for grabs, and there is a prize every month especially for new players, so if you haven't entered a challenge at Inkurable before you have a great chance of scoring something awesome from one of our sponsors. :)

Monday, December 6, 2010

Can you believe it's December already? I don't know where the time goes! This year has just flown by. I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've blogged here! Well, I've got lots to share, so I'll be playing catch up over the next week or so, so stay tuned. :)

The base card is made from Bazzill cardstock. The background paper is from Kaisercraft and I inked around the edges using Victorian Velvet Distress ink. At the top I stamped a Christmas tree branch using a stamp from the Darkroom Door Yuletide Vol 2 stamp set in Shabby Shutters distress ink. The 'Tis the Season" sentiment comes from the same stamp set. It was stamped using Timber Brown Stazon ink.

The baubles were made by die-cutting some circles out of My Mind's Eye patterned paper (using my nestabilities shapes). I stamped them with the Darkroom Door Flourish Background stamp using Versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder. I then inked around the edges of the circles with my ink blending tool and Victorian Velvet Distress ink.

To create the hanging part of the bauble, I hand drew the shape onto some silver paper, cut it out, and then punched a hole with my crop-a-dile. I glued it to the back of the bauble, and threaded some silver cord through the hole. Two of the baubles were glued straight down onto the background, and the frontmost bauble was mounted using foam mounting tape.

I'm loving the new DD Flourish Background stamp! It's soooo pretty - and looks great embossed like this. It would also look great if you used flocking instead of the embossing powder - or even glitter!

About Me

I am a wife, and mum of 2 who lives on the Central Coast, NSW. I have an obsession with Stamping, Mixed Media, Card Making, and Photography. I am a stamping and card making teacher with over 5 years of experience, and I am available to teach at your store or event!